Deborah Wakeham Movies
- 1996
Arianna (Rae Dawn Chong), a beautiful, decidedly "New Agey" alien in a stylish spacecraft comes in search of the half-human half-alien being her people created as an experiment to see if her kind could live successfully on the Earth. She and her people feel no qualms about taking over the blue planet because its current residents care so little for its delicate ecological balances. No sooner does she land than she is out saving the hide of the handsome Kieran, who just happens to be the man she's seeking. A real back-to-nature-boy, Kieran (Billy Wirth) sports silky long hair, rippling muscles and carries with him a Chinese flute, something he prefers to play with his shirt off. Having found him, it seems that Arianna can simply take him back home, and this low-budget, unintentionally awful sci-fi outing would end, but alas, there is more trouble afoot when Kieran's evil bio-dad shows up to steal his genes for his own nefarious ends. Fortunately, while evading the nefarious Pallas, Kieran and Arianna have time to romance and make ultra-cosmic love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Satan opens an antique shop in a small town and lures the residents into evil actions in this supernatural chiller. Based on a novel by the prolific Stephen King, the film bears many of the author's trademarks, such as the New England setting and the focus on regular people tempted by the forces of supernatural evil. Here, the enticements toward bad behavior comes from the "Needful Things" shop, owned by new resident Leland Gaunt (Max von Sydow). Gaunt's shop offers an odd collection of goods, each of which happens to be the object of desire of a local resident. Instead of money, however, Gaunt demands that townspeople perform a series of simple pranks. He has a plan, and these actions escalate until the town is at violent war with itself. The residents are brought to life by a talented cast, led by von Sydow's suave devil and including Ed Harris as the local sheriff, J.T. Walsh as a corrupt politician, and Amanda Plummer as a seemingly innocent baker. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, (more)
Inheriting the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her late husband, covetous ex-showgirl Margaret Whitton wants to move the franchise to Miami, primarily to take advantage of the many personal perks she's been promised by that city. But Cleveland won't yield its lease on the Indians unless the year's attendance falls below 800,000. Figuring that chances for this are already good given Cleveland's inability to win a pennant, Whitton tries to make doubly certain that the fans won't turn out by ordering the club manager to put together the worst team possible. The new players include hasbeen Tom Berenger, blind-as-a-bat pitcher Charlie Sheen, self-protective free agent Corbin Bernsen, and Wesley Snipes, who is constitutionally incapable of hitting straight. Surprisingly, this band of misfits begins winning games, so Whitton decides to break their spirit by forcing them to fly from game to game in a World War II prop plane, assigning them a rickety old bus for road games, and divesting them of their precious whirlpool. Still, the team's talent and esprit de corps grows, especially after "Wild Thing" Sheen dons a pair of glasses and is able to see where he's lobbing his 100-mile-an-hour pitches. Once the players are told that Whitton plans to dump them all whether they win the pennant or not, the team defiantly adopts an "us against the you-know-what" attitude. In a nailbiting 20 minute climax, the Indians face down their hated Yankee rivals in the pennant playoff game. The film's conclusion ties up several loose plot ends, notably the off-and-on romance between the irresponsible Berenger and his "ex" Rene Russo. Though set in Cleveland, Major League was filmed virtually in its entirety in Milwaukee, with the Brewers' play-by-play announcer Bob Uecker giving a terrific performance as the Indians' drink-besotted color commentator. The film represented not only the fictional comeback of the Cleveland Indians, but the actual comeback of producer/director David S. Ward, who'd been in a professional slump for several years. Though containing few surprises, Major League was a box-office smash, inspiring a 1992 sequel, inventively titled Major League II. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, (more)
- 1987
Set in the 1930s, this murder mystery stars Jamie Barrett as a cub reporter who poses as a hooker to get the dirt on a shady pimp (Frank Annese). ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1986
In this sci-fi film an astronaut finds himself endowed with superhuman powers after he was exposed to severe radiation resulting from a solar disturbance during the time he was in space. He uses those powers to find the one who murdered his colleague. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Evigan, Deborah Wakeham, (more)
- 1986
This time out, the services of Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis) are engaged by the deceptively mild-mannerd Alan Tupperman (Guy Boyd). It seems that lonely Alan is in search of the "perfect mate", and he expects the detectives to find this elusive woman--or at the very least, locate several women from which he can choose. The episode's action is counterpointed by significant scenes culled from the 1935 horror flick The Bride of Frankenstein). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Wrestler Hulk Hogan asks his old Vietnam buddy B.A. (Mr. T. to help him keep the Venice Boys' Center free from criminal infiltration. This proves difficult when the Kotero crime family takes an unhealthy interest in one of the Center's young charges, whose late father had hidden a huge amount of stolen money just before his demise. In addition to Hulk Hogan, the A-Team is abetted by a whole slew of popular pro wrestlers, including Big John Studd and "Gorgeous" Bobby Heenan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
- R
An electronics tycoon takes a shine to a beautiful aspiring model and decides to turn her into a superstar in this melodrama that was funded by the Canadian Film Development Corporation. First he buys the modeling agency where she works and then sets about towards turning her into the "The Dreamworld Girl." Along the way the young girl becomes disillusioned by the lurid assortment of sleazy characters she encounters. The tycoon too, must deal with a ruthless partner who wants to dethrone him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Conaway, Irena Ferris, (more)
- 1980
- R
The popular topic of men whose mid-life crises grow with a thickening waistline is handled with snatches of wit and insight in this standard comedy-drama from John Trent. Bobby Lee (Bruce Dern) is beginning to feel hemmed in -- his wife (Ann-Margret) has lost some of her appeal and his friends and family keep viewing him like the forty-year-old he will soon be. After his father dies, he is unable to take it anymore, and he hooks up with a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader (Deborah Wakeham) on a trip to that city. He may have traded in his business suite for denim, jeans, and cowboy boots, but he soon finds that a real transformation is not so easy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Dern, Ann-Margret, (more)
